It is often necessary to splice the ends of optical fibers from one fiber optic cable to corresponding ends of optical fibers from another fiber optic cable. This is accomplished by "breaking-out" a portion of each of the fiber optic cables, whereby the optical fibers therein are exposed by stripping the protective jacket from the fiber optic cable. The corresponding optical fibers are then spliced together using various techniques, such as fusion splicing or mechanical splicing.
A loop that includes the splice is coiled in the spliced optical fibers. This loop is placed within a protective splice tray. These splice trays may be as simple as a rectangular tubular member having two opposing and open sides through which the optical fibers pass. More than one of these spliced loops may be placed within the same splice tray.
In large fiber optic systems, such as telecommunication systems, many optical fibers must be spliced together and these fibers may originate from multiple fiber optic cables. To contain all of these loops, multiple splice trays are required. In order to provide organization and protection for the splices, while still allowing for convenient access to the optical fibers, the splice trays are held in a splice tray rack within a splice tray cabinet.
What is needed is a splice tray rack for holding numerous splice trays of various configurations while permitting easy insertion and withdrawal of the splice trays and the optical fibers therein. What is further required is a fiber optic cable management cabinet that can hold the splice tray rack, the optical fibers of the fiber optic cables and the fiber optical cables themselves in a manner that routes the optical fibers within the cabinet as required and isolates the optical fibers from disturbances of the fiber optic cable.